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Residents question speed of dozens of board appointments at Morrisville meeting
Summary
Residents criticized council for approving numerous board appointments and reappointments at once, calling the package rushed and insufficiently publicized; council said some term irregularities date to prior years and defended the process.
At the Dec. 16 Morrisville Borough Council meeting, multiple residents urged the council to slow or better publicize dozens of appointment decisions that were presented and approved in one packet.
Public commenter Sean Ratti said he was "befuddled" to see 15 appointment nominations on the agenda — nine of them previously unannounced — and called the series of reappointments effectively a "self-appointment" move that deprived the public of an opportunity to apply. Ratti asked council to pause and reopen applications so interested residents could be considered.
Another resident, identified in the transcript as Kathy, criticized borough management and said federal ARPA funds had masked longer-term accounting issues; she also announced plans to file a civil-rights and ADA lawsuit against the borough. Council members responded that the timing irregularities in board terms traced back to 2010 and 2013 and that current votes were intended to restore staggered term expirations and statutory compliance.
Council proceeded to nominate and approve a slate of appointments and reappointments by voice vote. Appointments announced and approved during the meeting included reappointments and new appointments for civil service, zoning, planning, library board, Environmental Advisory Council and the Economic Development Corp; the meeting record lists motions passing typically by unanimous voice vote (commonly 6-0) for the individual nominations.
Council did not announce a pause in appointments; several citizens asked that future openings be broadly publicized and that incumbent reappointments not be processed without opportunity for broader public application.
